J R R Tolkien

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9.9 Superb
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Biography

Recent Role:
Himself (on video) on Omnibus (UK)
Gender:
Male
Died:
09-02-1973
Birthplace:
Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, in southern Africa
Birth Name:
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Ronald Tolkien was born of English parents at Bloemfontein in the independent Orange Free State, where his father worked in a bank. When he was four, his mother took him and his younger brother home to England, and his father died soon afterwards. The Tolkiens lived in and around Birmingham, at Sarehole village, Moseley, King's Heath, and Edgbaston. In 1900, Mrs Tolkien converted to Roman Catholicism, but died of diabetes in 1904, when Tolkien was twelve. He and his brother were then brought up by a Roman Catholic priest. Mrs Tolkien had taught the boys French, German, and Latin before she… More died, and while at school (King Edward's and, briefly, St Philip's Grammar School, Birmingham) Tolkien learnt Greek, Anglo-Saxon, Old Icelandic, Gothic, Welsh, Spanish, and Italian. He also became captain of the King Edward's School rugby team. Tolkien took his first degree at Oxford in Old English and Old Norse, also learning to read Dutch, Russian, and all of the Scandinavian languages. He had begun to invent languages as a child, and he later created several for his fictional Middle-earth. In 1908, when Tolkien was sixteen, he was in lodgings and became friendly with another lodger, Edith Bratt, then nineteen: they cycled out into the countryside together. Tolkien's guardian was angry, arranged new lodgings and ordered Tolkien not to see Edith again until he was twenty-one. He obeyed, but when he came of age he renewed the friendship. He graduated at Oxford in 1915 and with the Great War in its second year was commissioned into the Lancashire Fusiliers. Before leaving for France in 1916, he married Edith. Tolkien was in the trenches for four months and saw action at the Battle of the Somme, but he was sent home in 1917 on medical grounds, while most of his Oxford friends were dying in the trenches. After his discharge, Tolkien stayed with Edith at Great Haywood and began to write what later became The Silmarillion. He got a job as an assistant on the Oxford Dictionary for two years (1919-21), then became Professor of English Language at Leeds University (1921-25), before returning to Oxford as Professor of Anglo-Saxon (1925-45). In 1945 he was appointed as Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and remained at Oxford until he retired.

Tolkien was the author of important works of scholarship and translated most of the surviving Anglo-Saxon poems into modern English verse.



With Edith, Tolkien had four children. He invented Bilbo Baggins and wrote and illustrated The Hobbit for them. This was published in 1937 and led to the writing of The Lord of the Rings, completed in 1949 but not published until 1954-55. The publisher later explained that "It was a very large work, and its publication was considered a risky venture." The trilogy is said to have sold over fifty million copies in more than twenty languages. Among his family and friends, Tolkien was always called by his middle name, Ronald, while many colleagues called him Tolkien. After he retired in 1968, the Tolkiens moved to Poole. Edith died in 1971 and Tolkien in 1973. They are buried together at Wolvercote cemetery, Oxford.

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    9.5 Superb
    Just like Star Trek or Star Wars, J.R.R.Tolkien was best known for his medieval works which turned into a trend for some people. hide show

    People who liked Star Trek and Star Wars were average people but the ones who worshipped them were crazy. Those people who like Renaissance or medieval books or shows were average people but the ones who turned it into groups or cults based on the books were crazy. I am not crazy. I don't like the futuristic shows or novels, not all, but I do like the medieval stuff. The kind that J.R.R.Tolkien and C.S.Lewis did. Like most average people my favourite was Lord of the Rings, including the Hobbit. I started Silmarillion but had a hard time getting into it. I think J.R.R.Tolkien was great at writing this type of literature. I hope more of his works are made into motion pictures soon.

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    ElvisRocks13 Added Aug 16, 2008 All my reviews
 

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